Worthy MacBook Pro Battery Life, Short For 2011 Edition

We had assumed that the latest generation of MacBook would give us extra life while on the road, or even in our homes but the result is a little disappointing. The new MacBook Pro battery life falls short of our expectations, and might not be a worthy contender to other notebooks.

New buyers may be happy with the Battery life for the MacBook Pro, 2011 edition. This is not the case for some upgraders who wanted to see at least 10-hours of battery on this MacBook Pro refresh but what we actually got was 7, how can that be evolution? It seems as though Apple might have picked up some bad habits from the battery technology employed by the team behind the iPhone.

Apple is facing a bit of a dilemma on this one, as there are a number of other notebooks coming to market that will put the Pro to shame when it comes to battery life. Two that come to mind are the new Sony VAIO S Series Slim and the Lenovo ThinkPad T420, which both offer over 30 hours of battery life, although you do have to add another slim battery. Having said that, you still have that option, and they will give you much more than 7 or even 10 hours of battery life in the standard configuration.

There are many reasons why the battery is not as long lasting in the MacBook Pro refresh, some are because the processors used are said to be twice as fast as its predecessors, and the graphics three times faster. However, Apple say that the biggest change comes in how they measure the life of the battery, as it is now much more accurate.

For those of you who are not fazed about this issue, then upgrading will be an easy decision. With specs ranging from 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 to a 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, and up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, it’s not hard to see why you would not want to do so.

Taking all the above in mind, we wanted to see what our readers expectations were for the 2011 MacBook Pro, and you can share your view either in the comments below, or by voting in the poll that can also be found below this article.

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Research your facts before making posts, you would then realise that apple have changed the way they test battery life.

jombo

Likewise with luke, you are a jackass. Do some research like a tech writer is supposed to and stop complaining. How much faster the processor and graphics are has nothing to do with the "decrease" in battery life. The processor and graphics, while being significantly more powerful, use the same power as the previous components in the old macbook pro. Jackass.

King Solomon

This is some bullshit, I am a graphic designer and I love apple cause it got me inspired to do graphic work on the iMac. Once you have this Macbook Pro, you only get 4 hours of battery life. I just tool it off the charger when it was charging for 6 hours. Man this is some bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!! Money ain't the issue, the battery life is the issue, I wanted to escape the office not live in the office!

seriously?

It must be nice to get paid to not actually research any of your "journalistic endeavors", apple has clearly stated that the battery testing methods they are using now are real world tests meaning what you actually will get rather than what you theoretically can get. If you look at the specs for the older ones they have changed too…for instance the white macbook which hasn't changed now says 7 as well.

As for the idiot above who is whining about 4 hours….battery life isnt based on full brightness and constant wifi both of which will signifigantly shorten battery life.

Matt

Sounds like it is a respectable upgrade, but the new processor will lower the battery life. The thunderbolt port is a good addition but won't have devices for it for awhile. All in all they made a decent upgrade.

While the new Intel processor's are much more powerful, I doubt they use the same power as the previous chipsets. Just like a bigger/faster engine in a car would likely use more fuel the new quad core offerings from Intel are worth a drop in battery mileage IMO. Most of my computing is tethered to an AC outlet so it's no big deal for me. If most of your work is untethered then it may suit you to look for a backup plug in (piggy-back) battery or another brand of computer.

Nathan V B

Surely the comments about the more powerful chips draining the power more quickly are slightly irrelevant. If Apple claim 10 hours light use and 7 hours "real" use, then this is a trade description issue straight-up. I have the new 15" Macbook Pro and haven't had a chance to test the new powerful CPU, the battery drains after 3 1/2 hours with very light internet use, if you're saying the new chip will drain the battery even in light use then I can't see how these claims by Apple are accurate. I'm VERY disappointed thus far.
BTW software is up to date, battery is calibrated, coconut battery checked, Activity monitor checked. Ridiculous.

One thing you fail to mention is that the MBP's 7 hours is still among the TOP leading best batteries on the laptop market. You also forgot to mention it comes with the best customer service on the planet. Oh, and you also forgot to mention that it comes with OS X. I'd rather have 7 hrs on a mac then 75 hrs on windows ANY DAY!